Student groups from throughout the University of Chicago have come together to produce an academic freedom symposium, which will feature lectures, workshops and panel discussions on a variety of topics related to academic freedom. The event will be held Wednesday, May 5 to Friday, May 7.
Stanley Fish, former dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a scholar and frequent New York Times contributor who has extensively covered academic freedom issues, will give the Thursday, May 6 keynote address.
The symposium also will feature a conversation between Robert J. Zimmer, president of the University of Chicago; Peter Schmidt, an editor with the Chronicle of Higher Education; and Geoffrey Stone, the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor in the Law School and the College.
The Chronicle of Higher Education will send two editors, Schmidt and Sarah Bray, to moderate several sessions of the event and participate as a national media partner.
The sessions will cover a wide range of subjects, including academic freedom in the admissions process, student journalism and academic freedom, academic freedom around the world, socially responsible investing and recent issues surrounding academic freedom faced by the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago.
More information about the event and a complete schedule can be found at the event's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ucfree.
—Prof. Kunle Odunsi
